Heartstrike
by Rachael-Rose
Summary: The story goes that if a star falls on you, you’ll find love before the sun rises.' A love festival and Merillian banana splits :P TenxRose.
1. Chapter 1

"Okay, here we are! Oh, you might want to change for this one."

"Where are we?"

"Merillia. Best banana splits in the universe, and…oh, brilliant! We've landed in the middle of the festival! In that case, wear something red." Rose watched as the Doctor grinned at the image on the view screen, nothing from this distance but a street filled with a mass of red-clad people.

"What festival?"

"Just go and change. It's a surprise!"

-

The TARDIS had materialized in the entrance to a small alleyway that led off from a main street – the one that Rose had seen on the viewer. Picking up the rather billowy skirt of the red dress she was wearing (and, she realised with a blush to match its colour, the dress that the Doctor couldn't seem to stop gawping at), she stepped out and was immediately caught up in the crush of people that filled the street. Rose found herself having to exercise a very firm grip on the Doctor's hand to keep from getting completely lost, but in the end she was back standing by the TARDIS and able to do some gawping of her own at the view.

"It's beautiful," she gasped, taking in her surroundings. Though it bore no physical resemblance, the scene reminded her of a busy street back home in London. Here though, the buildings were a little like church steeples, all glass and metal framework, adorned inside with red garlands and the occasional set of curtains where she guessed a bedroom might be. Shop fronts and market stalls lined the edges of the road, and in between them wove surprisingly human-looking men and women, all dressed in red, some dancing, some putting on street performances, some just milling around excitedly, talking and laughing.

"So, what's the celebration?" Rose asked, remembering that a festival had been mentioned.

"Heartstrike. You've heard of Venus, right? Love goddess?" Rose nodded. "Well," the Doctor continued, "they have a similar goddess here, and this is her feast day. Days, to be exact; it goes on for two days and three nights, at a time of the year when 'the stars fall'." He couldn't help but laugh at the worried expression that appeared on Rose's face at the mention of falling stars.

"I hope you don't mean that…"

"Nah! Course not! Meteor showers. They start at around midnight and don't end until dawn. The story goes that if a star falls on you, you'll find love before the sun rises."

Rose nodded again and made a noncommittal 'hmmm' sound, before quickly turning her gaze back to the packed street. Great one that was, bringing her to a place in the throes of a rampant love fest. She shook away the burning feeling that the Doctor's renewed staring was causing in the side of her head and plastered a 'cover-all' grin to her face before turning back and enquiring as to where they could get one of these famous banana splits.

The Doctor shrugged off his jacket, blushing furiously and mentally cursing himself for not being able to wipe the temptation to look from his mind, and threw it back through the doors of the TARDIS after pocketing the sonic screwdriver and his key.

"Nice shirt," commented Rose, smiling approvingly at the (rather lovely, she thought) shade of crimson he'd managed to dig out, before holding out a hand for him to take. "Can't go getting lost now, can we?" With a flutter of red skirts she dragged the Doctor into the crowd, and they began the search for (supposedly) the universe's best banana splits.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes he'd wondered if there was a way to kill him. Really kill him – bypass the regeneration thing and leave him stone cold dead. Right then and there, the Doctor thought he'd found it.

Rose had been cautious about the banana splits at first. He'd assured her that they were just like Earth bananas in every way. They just happened to be pink. She'd regarded him suspiciously, lifting the first spoonful to her mouth while keeping an eye on the Doctor that warned a world of pain if he was kidding around.

Then she'd eaten it. And as he watched the wary look transform into one of sheer, wide-eyed ecstasy, he'd thought that he was going to have a double heart attack then and there. Bad idea, he thought. Very, very bad idea to give Rose Merillian bananas. Much less Merillian chocolate over said bananas. Still, there was no going back now, and she'd probably inflict that world of pain on him if he tried to remove them.

Eating the same thing himself hadn't helped either, and he'd lasted five minutes before making a lame excuse and disappearing to the restroom.

-

"So, why all the red?" Rose asked when he returned, a barely-concealed smirk playing at the corner of her lips.

"Love festival."

"Fair enough. When do things get interesting around here then?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. Interesting? Rose had no idea just how damn _interesting_ the last fifteen minutes had been, obviously, but he resisted the urge to comment.

"Well, since it's the first day of the festival, there's a sort of 'opening ceremony' in the temple at nightfall. We can go check it out if you like. Just…don't stare."

Rose blushed at the memory. Shortly after leaving the TARDIS, lulled into the false security that the human appearance of the natives had provoked, Rose had almost jumped out of her skin when she encountered a stallholder with his bright, blank white eyes.

"I wasn't prepared," she protested. "Anyway, all those monsters, I think I can handle white eyes."

The Doctor grinned. "Okay, sorry. I suppose it's the little things that make the difference. And you know what they do afterwards?"

"What?"

"Dance! I haven't danced in this body yet, we've got to go dancing."

Rose coughed and sprayed the Doctor with half-chewed banana and sprinkles, surprised but not entirely unhappy with the effect that those particular words plus the chocolate had.

"You okay?" His concern barely masked the furious blush that was spreading across his face as he realised what he'd just said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Rose recovered quickly, licking her spoon clean and placing it into the empty dish. "So, where to now?"

The Doctor paid at the counter then led Rose out into the street, where some people were now beginning to make their way more purposefully towards a great glass-domed building at the distant end of the street, which she guessed was the temple. The sun was still fairly high, but it looked like a long walk, and with the numbers, it'd probably be difficult to get an actual seat.

Taken in by it all – the sun glinting off glass rooftops, the flowers, the throng of people now meandering toward the temple – Rose didn't notice the tugging on her dress at first. A particularly hard pull grabbed her attention, though, and she snapped round to see a little girl, no older than six or so, smiling up at her. Small children here had coloured eyes, she noticed, blank like the adults', but this girl's were blue.

"For you, miss," she grinned, holding up a small red object. Rose took it; it was a string bracelet. She turned to say thank you, but the girl was gone as quickly as she seemed to have appeared.

The Doctor helped tie it round Rose's wrists, grinning. "You're special," he remarked as he finished and took her hand again. "That's a blessing. The children here are slightly psychic. They give those to people when they see that they're blessed. Brings you good fortune."

"How come she had blue eyes?"

"Born with it. The ability fades as they get older, with their eye colour. The paler their eyes get, the less psychic they are."

"So, this is supposed to bring me fortune. Am I gonna fall in love with an alien or something?"

"Maybe."


	3. Chapter 3

The walk had certainly been a long one, but one well worth it. The sheer size of the place left Rose gawping open mouthed in the middle of a sea of people until she'd had to be practically carried along by the Doctor. It turned out that the domed building was just that – a dome, and nothing else, all glass and a web of metal that glinted under the fading sunlight. Everything in sight was hung with the same red flowers and the many benches were quickly filling up.

"The festivals here are held at full moon," the Doctor explained as they sat down, "and when the moon is highest, it shines through the top of the dome, which magnifies it so that everything is lit up." They were sat on a curved bench at the edge of a great round space in the middle of the dome, empty except for a tall statue of a goddess Rose figured was Henda, and which afforded a brilliant view of almost the whole temple.

"It's so beautiful," Rose breathed, still absorbed in all the sights. "How do they get those all the way up there without anything to lean a ladder on?" She pointed to the roof, where all but a centre circle of the cavernous space was filled with red blossoms.

"They climb up the outside and take the glass out. That circle is for the light to shine through."

Half an hour or so passed, with more and more people arriving all the time, until Rose's attention was drawn back down from the ceiling by the arrival of a woman (a priestess, informed the Doctor) with a group of children. She was surprised to see that not only did some have blue eyes, but some had brown, black and even purple as well. One child was especially familiar, and Rose returned the beaming smile as best she could without distracting her young friend.

There were prayers and songs led by the choir of children, to which Rose and the Doctor had no idea of the words, but joined in as much as possible. She had never really liked going to church services, so Rose was surprised at how much she enjoyed this, and the time passed remarkably quickly. Midway through, there was a break in the ceremony and food was passed round – dishes of strange looking fruits, bread, and cups of wine – and the respectful quiet became a babble of conversation as people got up and walked around exchanging greetings and blessings. The children, Rose saw, also broke up, and were running in and out of the crowds, tugging on skirts or trouser legs and giving red bracelets.

"Doctor, how come we don't stick out? I mean, I haven't seen anymore…well, aliens around except us."

"There's usually quite a few," he answered between bites of something resembling a plum, scanning the room. "See there," he pointed, "he's definitely not local. And her, over there. Although, there's normally a lot more off-worlders. Must be a quiet year."

Rose nodded absently – she'd found something far more interesting. The Doctor groaned inwardly as she picked out a slice of something pink from a nearby bowl, doing his best to look away and yet not appear affected by the sight of _those_ bananas.

_Rassilon, where's a restroom when you need one?_

A giggle from Rose made him blush, and he quickly changed the banana slices for something altogether safer.

"Strawberries? They have strawberries on this planet?" The Doctor nodded, smiling. "That's so cool."

A while later, the priestess returned, and a hush fell once more as an offering was made before the statue in the centre. There was a last song, and then the priestess addressed the gathering.

"Beloved people, blessed children and esteemed visitors, I welcome you." The woman's voice was high and sweet, and without any visible effort on her part, carried across the vast dome so clearly that even those at the very back could hear her. "The time is almost come when the moon is at her highest. Henda is smiling on us. There are so many blessed people here tonight, and I invite all to come and to dance under the star-showers, with my prayers that one may fall on you and bring you the happiness that you seek."

When she had finished speaking, Rose saw that that the moon was indeed now high, shining through the top of the dome and throwing silver light across the whole congregation, so bright it was almost like daytime, and she couldn't help but stare, enthralled, ignorant of the adoring smile from beside her.

"Rose."

"Mmm?"

"Gonna come and dance?"

Rose took the offered hand and allowed herself to be led out of the temple, leaning happily against the Doctor as they made their way slowly through the crowd. Outside the temple was mostly a wide expanse of field and meadow, and at some point marquees had been erected at intervals, beneath which groups of musicians played and food was served.

"So," she began between steps as a lively piece started up, "where does this story about stars falling on you come from? Does anything actually fall on you?"

"The meteors burn up in the atmosphere, like they do on Earth. Some of them are different here though – those disintegrate into almost nothing, just little pieces of dust. Shiny, like diamonds, and most of it's so light it blows away on the wind, but a few pieces fall right down. If one falls on you, you're in there!"

"How do you know who it is?"

The Doctor shrugged. "You just know, I suppose. Love across a crowded dance field." He winked in such a way at Rose that she stumbled, blushing, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Do you believe it?" she asked, not unaware of a thread of hopefulness in the question.

"Not sure. Anything's possible, but if you love someone, you love them, and you don't need a bit of stardust to let them know."

"Maybe all this just makes people less shy about coming out with it?"

"Maybe," he remarked for the second time that evening. The music ended, and a slower dance began, and Rose was left alone while the Doctor went to get drinks.

Looking up at the sky, she gasped and laughed with delight as a bright streak of white appeared, then vanished just as quickly. Others had seen it too, and were pointing and chattering excitedly as more and more began to fall. She jumped at the feeling of an arm round her waist, then turned to return the Doctor's wide smile as he handed her a glass.

"So, Rose Tyler, what do you think? No monsters, no running, just a good old-fashioned meteor shower."

"It's gorgeous! I love it. Thank you."

"Not just me, you know – the TARDIS landed us in the middle of the festival. She must have thought we deserved a holiday. Hang on!"

"What?" asked Rose, suddenly worried.

"I know exactly where to go for this! Come on!" The Doctor took her hand and ran, and she had to either run too or fall over, tripping on skirts and struggling to keep up as they headed for the far end of the field, and the hill beyond.


	4. Chapter 4

"D'you _have_ to look so smug?" Gasping for breath at the top of a surprisingly steep hill wouldn't be half as bad, Rose thought, if the Doctor didn't look so pleased with the fact that he wasn't the least out of breath. "Why did we have to run anyway? I thought we were here so we didn't have to."

"Oh, stop moaning. All that talk, you're wasting valuable breath. Now then, look."

From below them faint music drifted up and the moon cast a strange glow on the dancers. There were so many of them! As Rose caught her breath, the quiet up here seemed to fall suddenly, like a heavy blanket had been thrown over her. In the far distance the glow of city lights could be seen, and she asked the Doctor whether the people there were all celebrating too.

"All over the world. It's a bit like New Year, and this is Australia. One of the first big celebrations. Somewhere in that direction," he pointed it out, "it's getting dark now and this is happening all over again."

"Like Christmas and Valentine's all rolled into one."

"Exactly! Now pay attention. Look up there."

Rose followed the Doctor's gaze to the sky. The little points of light were falling thick and fast now, and the scale of it made her dizzy. She noticed for the first time a collection of blue spheres among the stars, arranged across the sky in a long line – those, according to the Doctor, were planets, and that one in the middle, just _there_, was called Aura, and the people had green skin.

"You know, I think I can honestly say that is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Oh, I don't know. I've seen far better. Here, try these." He pulled something from his pocket, adjusted a dial, and handed it to Rose. It was a little pair of what looked like binoculars.

She regarded them for a moment, a curious look on her face. "How did you get these in there?"

"Bigger on the inside."

Rose laughed first at the comment, then at how casually she accepted it now, shaking her head and raising the odd looking instrument to her eyes. It was less like a pair of binoculars and more like a miniature telescope, and she found that she could suddenly see the meteors much more closely – white with tails of every colour she could think of streaming out behind them.

She lowered the binoculars and held them out to offer the Doctor a look, surprised when she saw the sudden change in his expression. His face had become serious, watching her with a look in his eyes she couldn't place. He took them, but instead of looking through them returned them to his trouser pocket, and Rose stared at how once he'd done so, there was no imprint in the fabric, despite the pocket's apparent size.

"Rose, um…crap. We really should go back."

"Why?" If she hadn't known better, she'd have said the Doctor looked almost scared.

"Because if we stay up here something bad's going to happen."

"What? I thought you said no running for our lives this time."

"I did. Look…oh, I'm not saying this right, am I? If we stay up here I'm going to make an ass of myself. Very bad idea, very, very bad…against all the rules, not that I care, only end up in tragedy, and I'm starting not to care about that, and please, can we go back now?"

"Doctor, you're blushing."

"I am not! Look, Rose…oh God, look out!"

Thinking it was a poor attempt at a distraction, she didn't move, but decided to humour him by following the direction of his horrified stare. The smile was wiped from her face as she vaguely sensed someone diving at her, trying to push her down…but it was too late; the tiny object made contact with her forehead, burning headache took over…

…and everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

When Rose opened her eyes, she was alone. And she'd moved, she realised with some confusion. Last time she looked, she hadn't been flat out on her back in the corner of a field. The pounding in her head made her wonder briefly whether she'd been drunk and had collapsed somewhere, but that illusion was shattered by the arrival of a concerned, white eyed woman with a bundle of pieces of cloth in her hands.

"Where…where's the Doctor?" she asked, or tried to, slurring the words. Was she sure she wasn't drunk?

"Be still. Your friend will be back soon. Let me change the bandage."

"Bandage! God, what happened?" Rose lifted a hand to her head cautiously, yelping when she felt something warm and sticky. "I'm bleeding! What's going on? Where's the Doctor?"

"Please, miss, stay still! You were hit. He asked me to keep your neck still until he gets back, in case you're hurt."

While the woman dabbed at her head with one cloth, then wrapped another over the wound, Rose fought to stay still, breathing the panic away in a series of long ins and outs, counting the breaths in her head. The calmer she became, the more she remembered; watching the falling stars through those weird binoculars, seeing that small, shiny object coming towards her, laughing at…

"He was blushing." A daft grin spread across Rose's face and she giggled at the thought. "The Doctor was blushing! Oh, God, I'm gonna kill the bastard when he gets back."

As if on cue, a faint breeze began to blow over Rose, ruffling the fabric of her dress round her ankles. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a few spectators run to one side or another, pointing and gasping as a familiar sound, then a familiar shade of blue appeared almost right next to her. The woman who had been tending her head leapt aside as the door was flung open.

"It's okay, it's okay!" The Doctor held up his hands in an 'it's perfectly safe' gesture before dropping to the ground at Rose's side. Hushing the questions before she could open her mouth to start them, he produced a black box shaped device, running it over her head and neck a few times before checking the readout with a satisfied smile.

"Rose? You're okay, you can sit up. Just don't go too…fast. You'll faint." Sighing as her head lolled again and she fell against him, the Doctor manoeuvred them both upright. As he began to carry her into the TARDIS, a man approached him with a red band around his head, who held out something for him to take.

"Sir? This belongs to your friend," the man said, and he unfolded his hand to reveal the tiniest of pieces of rock, only visible from its shine in the moonlight.

"Thank you. Thanks for looking after her," added the Doctor, closing the door behind him, anxious to get Rose to the med bay as soon as possible. Flicking a switch on the console on his way past, he watched the view screen for a moment, as confused people in red watched them disappear into the night.

"Put me down…put me down!" The Doctor almost dropped Rose in shock, so busy with his own thoughts that he didn't notice her stirring. "What the Hell's going on?" He lowered her into a sitting position, scanning her again with the black box as she glared at him through half open eyes.

"You got lucky. It was only a tiny piece, barely visible. The resistance helped a lot; it was going pretty slowly, really. It hardly touched you, just skimmed off your head, but humans can be so fragile… It's weird - they usually break up into harmless dust."

"What's _it_?"

"A star fell on you. Congratulations!" the Doctor beamed, putting the box down. "Merillian sun rises in about…four hours or so."

"I don't know what good that's gonna do. I feel like I want to sleep for ten. God, my head's killing me."

The Doctor laughed, trying to cover the feelings and the memories that those words dredged up. "Turning into an occupational hazard for you, that."

"Looks like it. I wonder what miracle cure you're gonna come up with this time."


	6. Chapter 6

Rose wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry in frustration. The expression on the Doctor's face was priceless, but so was what he held out for her to take. A moment's rummaging through his pockets had produced a small pink pill, which she was reliably informed was Martian paracetamol – 'soothes headaches in the blink of an eye and comes in an assortment of fruit flavours'. This one was, apparently, strawberry flavoured.

The mention of strawberries didn't really help when it came to resisting the temptation to deal out a few good slaps.

"Right, that's it. I'm going to bed." She got up, dizzy despite the pill working like the Doctor had said, not that she was going to admit the fact, and headed for the door. He leapt to his feet and followed.

"No, you're not. I'm taking you to the med bay to check you over."

"There's not gonna be any checking over of anybody. I'm going to bed. Disturb me and I won't be the one who needs checking over."

He'd really blown it this time, thought the Doctor grimly. "At least let me make sure you get there without collapsing or anything?"

Rose turned without a word, pulled open the door and was met with a surprising sight. Right on the other side was her bedroom and, she noticed with a rather smug grin, a set of clean nightclothes slung over the end of the bed. The Doctor scowled.

"Thanks, girl," laughed Rose, patting the wall as she went in. The door clicked shut, and when the Doctor opened it a second later, the corridor was back.

He was silent. All the curses he'd ever learnt suddenly didn't seem appropriate.

-

The Doctor couldn't remember the last time he'd been scared of a human. Never, if dignity had anything to do with it. But sneaking through Rose's (supposedly locked) door, praying to every God he could think of that she was asleep by now, he was coming pretty close to scared of what she'd do to him if he was caught.

The red dress had been tossed aside and lay in a crumpled heap by the bed. Rose hadn't bothered with the covered, choosing instead to sprawl out on top of the quilt. The Doctor noticed with some consternation that the TARDIS had clearly chosen Rose's most ill-fitting set of nightclothes, and made his thoughts very clear, pretty sure that behind the lack of reply she was blowing of one heck of a mental raspberry.

"Concentrate," he muttered angrily to himself, delicately removing the bandage round Rose's head. When that was discarded, he took an instrument from his pocket that more than vaguely resembled the sonic screwdriver and held it to the wound on her head, watching and shifting it carefully as the flesh healed itself under a red glow. Next stop was a bathroom connected to the main bedroom, where the Doctor retrieved a damp flannel and cleaned the last of the blood away.

"Good as new," he whispered, grinning. "Pretty as a picture. Okay, maybe not. Heart-stoppingly beautiful like no picture anyone will ever be able to paint, yeah. I'm really sorry about earlier." He wandered round, picking things up and dropping them down again, finally coming to rest on the dress, which he folded and draped over a chair.

"Probably for the best anyway. All a very bad idea. I'd only end up breaking your heart, and I'm not sure I could live with that. Oh, well. Better get out before you wake up and try and kill me!" The Doctor gathered up the flannel and old bandage, and fished around in his pockets, dropping something silver onto the pillow by Rose's head. "Found it in the wardrobe. Happy unbirthday."

And he turned, and left.


	7. Chapter 7

The timing couldn't have been more perfect if she'd tried; Rose's eyes snapped open as the door clicked shut and she fumbled for whatever it was the Doctor had dropped on her pillow. Despite now being completely alert, her eyes were still bleary from almost being genuinely asleep, and at first it looked like a shiny lump on a chain.

She rubbed her eyes and the lump formed itself into a tiny, perfectly symmetrical silver rose. It was beautiful. Turning it over, she saw that the back was clear and slightly rounded, and a tiny piece of what looked like glitter tossed around behind the crystal. It took a few seconds to register, but when the penny finally dropped Rose remembered seeing the weird red glow from behind her eyelids, and reached up to pat the now perfectly healthy part of her forehead where the piece of 'star' had hit her. She could have screamed, but settled for a heavy punch to the nearest pillow instead, gaining an almost sick pleasure from imagining the Doctor's face imprinted onto it.

Standing, Rose was pleased to find that the dizziness and headache were completely gone, albeit replaced with an overwhelming urge to march right into that console room and give that stupid, stubborn excuse for a Time Lord a piece of her mind. First things first, though. Running a hand through her hair in exasperation revealed remnants of her healed head wound, and she smelt vaguely of grass from lying out in that field.

Okay, she thought to herself. Shower, clean clothes, make the Doctor wish he'd never been born.

-

"Liar." Rose tried to keep a straight face as the Doctor all but jumped out of his shoes.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't get this," she waved the chain around her neck at him, "from the wardrobe. If there was stuff as gorgeous as this in there, I'd know."

"Ah."

"And I know us humans are supposed to be stupid, but give us some credit. My room's suddenly tidy and I've miraculously healed?"

"Double ah." The Doctor turned to play with anything on the console he could get his hands on, turning a furious shade of red for the second time that day.

"I think you owe me one. Set that thing to take us to the nearest party you can think of. We're going dancing."


	8. Chapter 8

Clearly, there were some languages the TARDIS couldn't translate. Yet. The Doctor made a mental note to create an entry for what he (not-so-affectionately) termed 'Roseish', in which the phrase 'we're going dancing', truthfully meant "I'm going to dance and you're going to watch me and wish you'd never been born".

_Or should that be 'loomed'? I don't know, I mean, in the interests of accuracy…oh, Rassilon…_

Rose had taken a shine to the green natives of Aura. Particularly to _that_ one, thought the Doctor with dismay, and for all his attempts to distract his mind with the technicalities of his birth, he couldn't stop staring at the way they, or rather _she_, were/was moving across the floor. Why don't they just haul each other into that corner and just have their wicked way?

So, he was the jealous type in this body. He wasn't sure he liked that. But, looking back at the couple on the dance floor, he decided he liked being the jealous type a lot more than he liked watching that spectacle.

"Woman trouble?" The barmaid's voice barging into his thoughts nearly made the Doctor jump from his seat. He nodded absently and gestured for the woman to refill his glass.

"I nearly told her earlier. About…you know. Then I figured it'd only be a bad thing for her in the long run, then something else happened and, well, you get the idea. Not the first time, probably not the last."

"Why would it be bad?"

"Trust me. It would."

"You're an idiot."

"Excuse me!" The Doctor shook his head as if suddenly realising what he was doing; sulking at a bar, drowning his sorrows, telling all to a green stranger? What was wrong with him today?

"I said you're an idiot. That guy your friend's dancing with is my cousin. He's gay. Every time you look away, she looks at you. If you ask me, which you're not, but I'm going to tell you anyway, you're gonna cause a lot more trouble if you don't tell her than if you do."

The Doctor stared, open-mouthed. Did some random stranger just tell him off in the middle of a crowded bar? So much for 'oncoming storm'. He felt not unlike a naughty child at the moment. When he blinked and returned to reality, several things had changed. One, the barmaid had moved and was now serving a customer on the other side of the circular bar, her back to him. Two, the music had changed, and was now a deep, rhythmic, thumping bass which seemed to match the quickening rate of his own hearts.

Three, there was a face next to him which hadn't been there before. A broad smile. A pair of brown eyes peering out from under lowered eyelashes in the sort of gaze that was probably illegal in at least ten galaxies.

An outstretched hand.

"Dance?"

The Doctor thought at least one of his hearts was about to explode.


	9. Chapter 9

A mixture of too much Auran vodka, too much bass and too much of Rose's positively indecent dancing, the Doctor had decided, could be ten times as terrifying as any Dalek invasion when they wanted to be.

"I'm fed up of this, Doctor," she said in a singsong voice as she shimmied her way around the dance floor. "You started this, you know."

"Started what?"

"You landed us on Merillia, you came up with the idea of watching a meteor shower in the middle of a love festival and you gave me this," she pointed at the silver necklace, "so don't you start bottling out now. You might be a lot of things, but you're terrible at hiding things. In this body, anyway."

She stopped suddenly. The Doctor looked nervous.

Inching her face as close to his as she dared, Rose muttered, "You are so damn cute when you blush."

"Time Lords don't blush."

"Third time today." Rose raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she looked at the time. "We're still in the same timeline as on Merillia?"

"Yeah. Look, Rose…"

"I've got half an hour, then. And the idea of shacking up with a green guy doesn't appeal to me _at all_…"

"Looked like you were enjoying that dance." The Doctor made a face that only seemed to encourage her more.

"He was gay, and that barmaid told you so. So, Doctor. Are you going to finish what you've started, or am I going to have to make you?"


End file.
